Method and apparatus for implementing search engine with cost per action revenue model

ABSTRACT

The inventive technology enables the search engine operator to charge the advertisers who place their links on the search engine only if the user uses the search results to visit the advertiser&#39;s web portal(s) and generates revenue for the advertiser. This concept is especially attractive to the advertisers because it eliminates the risk, which the advertisers face in conventional search engines, when they are changed by the search engine per user click irrespectively of whether the user&#39;s visit resulted in advertiser&#39;s revenue.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/291,442 filed on Nov. 30, 2005, which is relatedto commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/292,187 (U.S.patent application publication No. 2006/0265501) entitled “SYSTEM ANDMETHOD FOR ENABLING WIRELESS INTERNET ACCESS IN PUBLIC AREAS”, nowabandoned, and commonly owned co-pending U.S. patent application Ser.No. 11/291,688 (U.S. patent application publication No. 2007/0136295)entitled “COMPUTERIZED SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ADVANCED ADVERTISING,”filed on the same day, which are incorporated by reference herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to networking technology andmore specifically to a computerized networking search engine.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

Search engines such as Google derive their revenue from displaying tothe users advertisings paid for by sponsors. Specifically, in responseto the user query, a search engine performs a search of pre-stored setof web pages and returns the results containing information retrievedfrom the web. To generate its revenue, the search engine also shows theuser sponsored advertisements, which are usually placed above theresults retrieved from the web. When the user uses links associated withthe displayed sponsored advertisements, the sponsors pay the listingfees to the search engine, based on the number of users' visits.

The most significant problem associated with the conventional searchengines is that the advertiser pays the search engine fees withoutregard to the actual revenue derived by the advertiser from the usersdirected to the advertised by the search engine. In other words, theadvertiser must pay the search engine even if the visitors did not orderany goods or services from the advertiser. Essentially, the advertiserhas to estimate whether the fees paid to the search engine are justifiedby the additional customer traffic that it brings.

What is needed is a methodology and a system which would enable theadvertiser to pay the search engine an amount of fees based on theamount of additional revenue that the traffic from the search enginegenerates for the advertiser. Moreover, the need exists for a searchengine that pays its users back a portion of revenues generated by useractions and enables consumers to share in revenues from cost per actionadvertisers on the search engine. Such system would enable Internetusers to participate in the growing online search market and to receiverevenues generated by their online activities.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The inventive methodology is directed to methods and systems thatsubstantially obviate one or more of the above and other problemsassociated with conventional internet search engine systems.

One aspect of the inventive concept is a computerized search andadvertising system. The inventive system includes a web interfaceoperable to receive a search query from a user specifying searchinformation. The inventive system further includes a search systemoperable to receive the search query from the web interface and togenerate a search request based on the search query. A search engine isoperable to receive the search request from the search system and toprovide to the search system a set of search results responsive to thesearch request. The inventive system further includes a databaseoperable to store a plurality of paid advertisings. The search systemreceives a set of search results, retrieves at least one paidadvertising information from the database. The retrieved paidadvertising is relevant to the search information and includes a paidadvertising link. The search system further inserts the at least onepaid advertising link into the plurality of search results; and causesthe web interface to display the inserted paid advertising link as wellas the set of search results to the user.

In accordance with a feature of the invention, the operator of thesearch and advertising system receives payment only if the user uses thepaid advertising link to generate revenue.

Another aspect of the inventive concept is a computer-implementedmethod. In accordance with the inventive method, a search query isreceived from a user, the search query specifying search information. Asearch request is generated based on the search query and forwarded to asearch engine. A set of search results responsive to the search requestis received from the search engine. Subsequently, at least one paidadvertising information is retrieved from a database. The retrieved paidadvertising is relevant to the search information and includes a paidadvertising link. The at least one paid advertising link is insertedinto the search result set. Finally, the web interface displays theinserted paid advertising link and the search results set to the user.

Additional aspects related to the invention will be set forth in part inthe description which follows, and in part will be obvious from thedescription, or may be learned by practice of the invention. Aspects ofthe invention may be realized and attained by means of the elements andcombinations of various elements and aspects particularly pointed out inthe following detailed description and the appended claims.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing and the followingdescriptions are exemplary and explanatory only and are not intended tolimit the claimed invention or application thereof in any mannerwhatsoever.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification exemplify the embodiments of the presentinvention and, together with the description, serve to explain andillustrate principles of the inventive technique. Specifically:

FIG. 1 depicts a conceptual block-diagram of an embodiment of theinventive computerized search engine system.

FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary search results page generated by anembodiment of the inventive computerized search engine system.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a computer platform uponwhich the inventive computerized search engine system may beimplemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, reference will be made to theaccompanying drawing(s), in which identical functional elements aredesignated with like numerals. The aforementioned accompanying drawingsshow by way of illustration, and not by way of limitation, specificembodiments and implementations consistent with principles of thepresent invention. These implementations are described in sufficientdetail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention andit is to be understood that other implementations may be utilized andthat structural changes and/or substitutions of various elements may bemade without departing from the scope and spirit of present invention.The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be construed ina limited sense. Additionally, the various embodiments of the inventionas described may be implemented in the form of a software running on ageneral purpose computer, in the form of a specialized hardware, orcombination of software and hardware.

The inventive technology enables the search engine operator to chargethe advertisers who place their links on the search engine only if theuser uses the search results to visit the advertiser's web portal(s) andgenerates revenue for the advertiser. This concept is especiallyattractive to the advertisers because it eliminates the risk, which theadvertisers face in conventional search engines, when they are changedby the search engine per user click irrespectively of whether the user'svisit resulted in advertiser's revenue.

In addition, an embodiment of the inventive system track's user'sbehavior and authorizes payments to the users based on the share of therevenue received from the content providers.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of the computerized internetsearch engine system in accordance with an embodiment of the inventiveconcept. In FIG. 1, a client 101 send a search query 106, 107 to theinventive search system 103 through its web interface 102. The searchengine performs the search of the internet content by accessing 110 thesearch engine 105, which may be one of the well-known search enginesavailable on the Internet, including, without limitation, Google, Yahoo,MSN, Alta Vista, etc. The search engine 105 stores and indexes multipleweb pages in its internal storage. After executing the query 107, thesearch engine 105 returns the query result 111 to the search system 103.The search system 103 receives the query results from the search engine105 and integrates them with paid advertising materials that are storedin the paid advertising database 104. To this end, the search system 103issues a query 109 to the paid advertising database 104 in order toidentify the paid advertisements which best match the user's query 106.The search query results together with integrated advertisementmaterials 112 are sent by the search system 103 to the client 101through the web interface 102. In another alternative embodiment of theinventive concept, the search system 103 itself integrates an internalsearch engine subsystem (not shown), which is used to execute userqueries.

An exemplary embodiment of the search result page containing searchquery results together with integrated advertisement materials,designated in FIG. 1 by numeral 112 is depicted in FIG. 2. The depictedsearch result page includes “free” search results 203 and 204, whichhave been retrieved from the web. These results are also refereed to as“free” search results because they are not sponsored or paid for by anadvertiser. The result 202 is an example of a sponsored result or link,which has been retrieved by the inventive search system from the paidadvertisements database and inserted into the results page. If a useruses this link to access the advertiser website and makes a purchase, inaccordance with the inventive concept, the advertiser authorizes apayment to the search engine operator. The exact mechanism for trackingthe purchase transaction and recording the payment is not essential tothe present invention. Specifically, the purchase may be detected by theadvertiser's e-commerce system, which would also determine that thecustomer was sent to the advertiser's website by the inventive searchengine. Pursuant to this information, the payment may be recorded in anadvertiser's database. The sponsor-paid advertisement is designated insearch result page by numeral 202. Optionally, this page may contain thesearch term input field 205/206. Finally, the search result page mayalso include advertiser-sponsored links inserted by the search engine105. Such links are not handled by the inventive search system and aredesignated with numeral 201.

The amount of the payment received by the operator of the inventivesystem from advertiser may have any predetermined relationship to theamount of revenue realized by the advertiser from the specific uservisit. One example of such relationship may be a proportionaterelationship or a certain percentage.

In an embodiment of the inventive system, portion of the paymentreceived by the operator of the inventive search system from theadvertiser is rebated back to the user. For this purpose, the user maybe required to establish a user account to enable the inventive systemto track user activities and to store information on the credit due theuser. To implement this functionality, the inventive system mayadditionally include a database system for storing user and paymentinformation. As will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, suchrebate system provides additional incentives for users to user theinventive system for searching.

It will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, the inventivesystem is not limited to interoperating with only one advertiser or onlyone external search engine. In an embodiment of the inventive searchsystem, the user may specify which external search engine should be usedto retrieve the web search results.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram that illustrates an embodiment of acomputer/server system 300 upon which an embodiment of the inventivemethodology may be implemented. The system 300 includes acomputer/server platform 301, peripheral devices 302 and networkresources 303.

The computer platform 301 may include a data bus 304 or othercommunication mechanism for communicating information across and amongvarious parts of the computer platform 301, and a processor 305 coupledwith bus 301 for processing information and performing othercomputational and control tasks. Computer platform 301 also includes avolatile storage 306, such as a random access memory (RAM) or otherdynamic storage device, coupled to bus 304 for storing variousinformation as well as instructions to be executed by processor 305. Thevolatile storage 306 also may be used for storing temporary variables orother intermediate information during execution of instructions byprocessor 305. Computer platform 301 may further include a read onlymemory (ROM or EPROM) 307 or other static storage device coupled to bus304 for storing static information and instructions for processor 305,such as basic input-output system (BIOS), as well as various systemconfiguration parameters. A persistent storage device 308, such as amagnetic disk, optical disk, or solid-state flash memory device isprovided and coupled to bus 301 for storing information andinstructions.

Computer platform 301 may be coupled via bus 304 to a display 309, suchas a cathode ray tube (CRT), plasma display, or a liquid crystal display(LCD), for displaying information to a system administrator or user ofthe computer platform 301. An input device 310, including alphanumericand other keys, is coupled to bus 301 for communicating information andcommand selections to processor 305. Another type of user input deviceis cursor control device 311, such as a mouse, a trackball, or cursordirection keys for communicating direction information and commandselections to processor 304 and for controlling cursor movement ondisplay 309. This input device typically has two degrees of freedom intwo axes, a first axis (e.g., x) and a second axis (e.g., y), thatallows the device to specify positions in a plane.

An external storage device 312 may be connected to the computer platform301 via bus 304 to provide an extra or removable storage capacity forthe computer platform 301. In an embodiment of the computer system 300,the external removable storage device 312 may be used to facilitateexchange of data with other computer systems.

The invention is related to the use of computer system 300 forimplementing the techniques described herein. In an embodiment, theinventive search system 103 may reside on a machine such as computerplatform 301. In an embodiment, the management device locator server 106may also be deployed on a machine such as computer platform 301.According to one embodiment of the invention, the techniques describedherein are performed by computer system 300 in response to processor 305executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained inthe volatile memory 306. Such instructions may be read into volatilememory 306 from another computer-readable medium, such as persistentstorage device 308. Execution of the sequences of instructions containedin the volatile memory 306 causes processor 305 to perform the processsteps described herein. In alternative embodiments, hard-wired circuitrymay be used in place of or in combination with software instructions toimplement the invention. Thus, embodiments of the invention are notlimited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software.

The term “computer-readable medium” as used herein refers to any mediumthat participates in providing instructions to processor 305 forexecution. The computer-readable medium is just one example of amachine-readable medium, which may carry instructions for implementingany of the methods and/or techniques described herein. Such a medium maytake many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media,volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatile media includes, forexample, optical or magnetic disks, such as storage device 308. Volatilemedia includes dynamic memory, such as volatile storage 306.Transmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire and fiberoptics, including the wires that comprise data bus 304. Transmissionmedia can also take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as thosegenerated during radio-wave and infra-red data communications.

Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppydisk, a flexible-disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, or any other magneticmedium, a CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punchcards, papertape, anyother physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, aFLASH-EPROM, a flash drive, a memory card, any other memory chip orcartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any other mediumfrom which a computer can read.

Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carrying oneor more sequences of one or more instructions to processor 305 forexecution. For example, the instructions may initially be carried on amagnetic disk from a remote computer. Alternatively, a remote computercan load the instructions into its dynamic memory and send theinstructions over a telephone line using a modem. A modem local tocomputer system 300 can receive the data on the telephone line and usean infra-red transmitter to convert the data to an infra-red signal. Aninfra-red detector can receive the data carried in the infra-red signaland appropriate circuitry can place the data on the data bus 304. Thebus 304 carries the data to the volatile storage 306, from whichprocessor 305 retrieves and executes the instructions. The instructionsreceived by the volatile memory 306 may optionally be stored onpersistent storage device 308 either before or after execution byprocessor 305. The instructions may also be downloaded into the computerplatform 301 via Internet using a variety of network data communicationprotocols well known in the art.

The computer platform 301 also includes a communication interface, suchas network interface card 313 coupled to the data bus 304. Communicationinterface 313 provides a two-way data communication coupling to anetwork link 314 that is connected to a local network 315. For example,communication interface 313 may be an integrated services digitalnetwork (ISDN) card or a modem to provide a data communicationconnection to a corresponding type of telephone line. As anotherexample, communication interface 313 may be a local area networkinterface card (LAN NIC) to provide a data communication connection to acompatible LAN. Wireless links, such as well-known 802.11a, 802.11b,802.11g and Bluetooth may also used for network implementation. In anysuch implementation, communication interface 313 sends and receiveselectrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital datastreams representing various types of information.

Network link 313 typically provides data communication through one ormore networks to other network resources. For example, network link 314may provide a connection through local network 315 to a host computer316, or a network storage/server 317. Additionally or alternatively, thenetwork link 313 may connect through gateway/firewall 317 to thewide-area or global network 318, such as an Internet. Thus, the computerplatform 301 can access network resources located anywhere on theInternet 318, such as a remote network storage/server 319. On the otherhand, the computer platform 301 may also be accessed by clients locatedanywhere on the local area network 315 and/or the Internet 318. Thenetwork clients 320 and 321 may themselves be implemented based on thecomputer platform similar to the platform 301.

Local network 315 and the Internet 318 both use electrical,electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams. Thesignals through the various networks and the signals on network link 314and through communication interface 313, which carry the digital data toand from computer platform 301, are exemplary forms of carrier wavestransporting the information.

Computer platform 301 can send messages and receive data, includingprogram code, through the variety of network(s) including Internet 318and LAN 315, network link 314 and communication interface 313. In theInternet example, when the system 301 acts as a network server, it mighttransmit a requested code or data for an application program running onclient(s) 320 and/or 321 through Internet 318, gateway/firewall 317,local area network 315 and communication interface 313. Similarly, itmay receive code from other network resources.

The received code may be executed by processor 305 as it is received,and/or stored in persistent or volatile storage devices 308 and 306,respectively, or other non-volatile storage for later execution. In thismanner, computer system 301 may obtain application code in the form of acarrier wave.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to anyspecific types of wireless or wired network protocols. The requisitenetwork configuration may be achieved using a variety of knownnetworking protocols.

Finally, it should be understood that processes and techniques describedherein are not inherently related to any particular apparatus and may beimplemented by any suitable combination of components. Further, varioustypes of general purpose devices may be used in accordance with theteachings described herein. It may also prove advantageous to constructspecialized apparatus to perform the method steps described herein. Thepresent invention has been described in relation to particular examples,which are intended in all respects to be illustrative rather thanrestrictive. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that manydifferent combinations of hardware, software, and firmware will besuitable for practicing the present invention. For example, thedescribed software may be implemented in a wide variety of programmingor scripting languages, such as Assembler, C/C++, perl, shell, PHP,Java, etc.

Moreover, other implementations of the invention will be apparent tothose skilled in the art from consideration of the specification andpractice of the invention disclosed herein. Various aspects and/orcomponents of the described embodiments may be used singly or in anycombination in the computerized networking system. It is intended thatthe specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with atrue scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the followingclaims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A computerized search and advertisingsystem comprising: a. a web interface configured to receive a searchquery, wherein the search query specifies a search information; b. asearch engine communicatively coupled with the web interface andconfigured to receive the search information from the web interface andto retrieve and provide to the web interface a plurality of searchresults responsive to the search information; c. a database configuredto store a plurality of paid advertisements; and d. at least one storagedevice; wherein the computerized search and advertising system isadditionally configured to: i. retrieve at least one paid advertisementfrom the database, wherein the retrieved paid advertisement is relatedto the search information or the plurality of search results and whereinthe paid advertisement comprises at least one paid advertising link; ii.combine the at least one paid advertising link with the plurality ofsearch results; iii. send a response, the response comprising thecombined at least one paid advertising link and the plurality of searchresults, the response configured to cause the combined at least one paidadvertising link and the plurality of search results to be displayed,wherein an advertiser associated with the paid advertisement is chargeda fee if it is determined that the paid advertising link was used togenerate a revenue for the advertiser by way of a user making apurchase; iv. collect account information and establish an account forthe user based on the collected account information; v. credit theaccount of the user when it is determined that the paid advertising linkwas used to generate the revenue for the advertiser by way of the usermaking the purchase; and vi. cause information associated with theaccount of the user, information on an activity of the user andinformation on a credit amount credited to the account of the user to bestored in at least one storage area allocated on the storage device,wherein the sent response is further configured to cause the paidadvertising link to be displayed above at least one of the plurality ofsearch results; wherein the sent response is further configured to causethe at least one of the plurality of search results to be displayedbelow the paid advertising link; and wherein the plurality of searchresults are free search results.
 2. The computerized search andadvertising system of claim 1, wherein an operator of the search andadvertising system receives a payment only if it is determined that thepaid advertising link was used to generate the revenue.
 3. Thecomputerized search and advertising system of claim 1, wherein if it isdetermined that the paid advertising link was used to generate therevenue, a portion of the generated revenue is received by an operatorof the search and advertising system.
 4. The computerized search andadvertising system of claim 1, further comprising a second databaseconfigured to store the information on the credit amount credited to theaccount of the user.
 5. The computerized search and advertising systemof claim 1, wherein the information associated with the account of theuser, the information on the activity of the user and the information onthe credit amount credited to the account of the user is stored in thedatabase.
 6. The computerized search and advertising system of claim 1,further comprising a second database configured to store information onactivity of the user.
 7. The computerized search and advertising systemof claim 1, wherein the paid advertising link is designated with avisual object indicating that if the user takes a predetermined action,the user would be given a credit.
 8. A computer-implemented methodperformed in a computerized system comprising a central processing unit,at least one storage device and a network interface, thecomputer-implemented method comprising: a. receiving, using the networkinterface, a search query, wherein the search query specifies a searchinformation; b. retrieving a plurality of search results responsive tothe search information; c. storing a plurality of paid advertisements ina database; d. retrieving at least one paid advertisement from thedatabase, wherein the retrieved paid advertisement is related to thesearch information or the plurality of search results and wherein thepaid advertisement comprises at least one paid advertising link; e.combining the at least one paid advertising link with the plurality ofsearch results; f. sending a response, the response comprising thecombined at least one paid advertising link and the plurality of searchresults, the response configured to cause the combined at least one paidadvertising link and the plurality of search results to be displayed,wherein an advertiser associated with the paid advertisement is chargeda fee if it is determined that the paid advertising link was used togenerate a revenue for the advertiser by way of a user making apurchase; g. collecting account information and establish an account forthe user based on the collected account information; h. crediting theaccount of the user when it is determined that the paid advertising linkwas used to generate the revenue for the advertiser by way of the usermaking the purchase; and i. causing information associated with theaccount of the user, information on an activity of the user andinformation on a credit amount credited to the account of the user to bestored in at least one storage area allocated on the storage device,wherein the sent response is further configured to cause the paidadvertising link to be displayed above at least one of the plurality ofsearch results; wherein the sent response is further configured to causethe at least one of the plurality of search results to be displayedbelow the paid advertising link; and wherein the plurality of searchresults are free search results.
 9. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 8, further comprising providing a portion of the generated revenueto an operator of the search and advertising system.
 10. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising providing apayment to an operator of the search and advertising system.
 11. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the information onactivity of the user is stored in a storage area allocated on a storagedevice.
 12. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein theinformation associated with the account of the user, the information onactivity of the user and the information on a credit amount credited tothe account of the user is stored in a storage area allocated on astorage device.
 13. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, whereinthe paid advertising link is designated with a visual object indicatingthat if the user takes a predetermined action, the user would be given acredit.
 14. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the paidadvertising link is highlighted.
 15. A non-transitory computer-readablemedium embodying a set of instructions, which, when executed in acomputerized system comprising a central processing unit, at least onestorage device and a network interface, cause the computer system toperform a method comprising: a. receiving, using the network interface,a search query, wherein the search query specifies a search information;b. retrieving a plurality of search results responsive to the searchinformation; c. storing a plurality of paid advertisements in adatabase; d. retrieving at least one paid advertisement from thedatabase, wherein the retrieved paid advertisement is related to thesearch information or the plurality of search results and wherein thepaid advertisement comprises at least one paid advertising link; e.combining the at least one paid advertising link with the plurality ofsearch results; f. sending a response, the response comprising thecombined at least one paid advertising link and the plurality of searchresults, the response configured to cause the combined at least one paidadvertising link and the plurality of search results to be displayed,wherein an advertiser associated with the paid advertisement is chargeda fee if it is determined that the paid advertising link was used togenerate a revenue for the advertiser by way of a user making apurchase; g. collecting account information and establish an account forthe user based on the collected account information; h. crediting theaccount of the user when it is determined that the paid advertising linkwas used to generate the revenue for the advertiser by way of the usermaking the purchase; and i. causing information associated with theaccount of the user, information on an activity of the user andinformation on a credit amount credited to the account of the user to bestored in at least one storage area allocated on the storage device,wherein the sent response is further configured to cause the paidadvertising link to be displayed above at least one of the plurality ofsearch results; wherein the sent response is further configured to causethe at least one of the plurality of search results to be displayedbelow the paid advertising link; and wherein the plurality of searchresults are free search results.
 16. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the method furthercomprises providing a portion of the generated revenue to an operator ofthe search and advertising system.
 17. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the method furthercomprises providing a payment to an operator of the search andadvertising system.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium ofclaim 15, wherein the information associated with the account of theuser, the information on activity of the user and the information on acredit amount credited to the account of the user is stored in a storagearea allocated on a storage device.
 19. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the paid advertising linkis designated with a visual object indicating that if the user takes apredetermined action, the user would be given a credit.
 20. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the paidadvertising link is highlighted.